Choosing a coffee brewer

Nov 17, 2018

I came to decent coffee about six years ago and wanted to make it myself at home.
It was difficult to get plain English advice on the difference between the ways of making coffee so I ended-up buying them all and learning through trial and error.
Here’s what I learned, I hope it helps you to start right.

Simple brewing methods are the easiest and cheapest way to get started with making decent coffee at home because they let you learn the basics without committing to a lot of kit.
How do you choose which simple brewing method is right for you?
Start with the type of coffee you prefer to drink.

Strong flavours, maximum caffeine hit

The French Press (also known as cafetiere) that lots of us have lurking at the back of a cupboard is a great way to produce strong coffee with maximum caffeine. This is because the ground coffee is fully immersed in boiled water, dissolving solids and extracting a lot of the stronger flavours into the drink. You can find more help with brewing coffee using a French Press here.

All-rounder

The Aeropress produces well-rounded coffee, and is a sturdy bit of kit (so good for travelling). The ground coffee is fully immersed in water (just like the French Press) but is then pressed through a filter paper, which removes some of the stronger flavours and solids and leaves you with slightly more delicate flavours. You can find more help with brewng coffee using an Aeropress here

Delicate flavours and less caffeine

A coffee filter (also known as dripper) produces delicate coffee that’s close in appearance to tea. Water is poured through ground coffee and passes through filter paper, extracting only the most delicate flavours, removing a lots of the solids, and leaving you with less caffeine then the other methods. You can find more help with brewing filter coffee here.